That said, Spring-Ford coach Doug Landis made sure his Rams were in postseason mode in Tuesday night’s Liberty Division showdown with Methacton.

“I talked to the kids today and told them this was kind of like the ‘PAC-10 quarterfinals,’” Landis said. “If we win, we get to the semifinals.”

Thanks to a second-half goal from Dan DiLiberto and stellar play from keeper Pat Swartz, Spring-Ford did exactly that with a 1-0 victory over the Warriors at Coach McNelly Stadium.

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DiLiberto redirected in a cross from Cameron Rhodes and Swartz notched 11 saves as the Rams (10-3-1 Liberty, 13-4-1) clinched a Final Four playoff berth while eliminating the Warriors (7-5-1, 9-7-1), who had dealt them a 3-0 defeat in their earlier meeting.

“We just went out and we wanted it,” Swartz said. “That’s Ram soccer right there. We wanted it more. We won balls and our possessions were good.”

Methacton seemingly had the better of it in the first half, outshooting the Rams 7-3. But Swartz and his counterpart — Taylor LeSage — kept things scoreless with some strong play. LeSage blunted Spring-Ford’s best scoring chance when he stopped Stevie Sharon’s volley off a David Gulati corner kick midway through the first half.

The Rams began to pick up the pace in the second half, and 10 minutes in were awarded a throw-in that Rhodes controlled on the left wing. He chipped a left-footer in the box that barely eluded teammate Florian Subashi’s head, but a charging DiLiberto deflected it over LeSage to break the deadlock.

“It just gave us the push we needed to keep it up,” Swartz said. “I think it kind of took the wind out of their sails and gave us a push forward.”

Despite finishing with an 11-8 shot advantage, Methacton couldn’t connect for the equalizer.

They came tantalizingly close on a few occasions, the final one being when Tony Rajabi’s direct kick sailed a bit over the crossbar with three minutes left.

“All in all it was just a matter of executing,” Robbins said. “This game easily could have been 5-4 with goals we missed and they missed. It was just executing in the back third, that’s all. We just weren’t able to find a way to get a goal.”

The Rams were, and will now advance to Monday’s Final Four semifinal, where they face the Frontier Division champion (either Pottsgrove or Phoenixville).

“I’ll tell you what,” Landis said, “I was extremely happy with my midfield and my keeper tonight. Kole Lyons did a great job for us tonight; he picked up a lot of slack in the middle.

“And Patrick just made some tremendous saves in goal for us. There were a couple in the first half, where he was out of the goal and he made a big punch on the ball and then a big save. That keeps them off the board, and who knows, that could have been the game-winner. At that point, it’s 0-0 and who knows which way it goes.”

LeSage gave the Warriors a chance to get back even, making a diving stop to turn back Kole Lyons’ direct kick blast and a couple more big second-half saves on the way to a seven-save effort.

The teams halved the game’s eight total corners.

“This was a tremendous game; very intense,” Landis said. “Methacton’s an awesome team. We just happened to get the one (goal) that’s going to move us on.”

Methacton, with two games remaining, will hope to finish strong for a shot at a District 1-AAA tourney bid.

Spring-Ford, meanwhile, hopes to continue its momentum in the PAC-10 playoffs. Liberty Division champ Boyertown will face the Frontier runner-up in Monday’s other semi, with the final taking place Wednesday.

“The first time we played them (the Warriors) was an off game for us, and they took it to us,” said Rhodes. “We wanted to come back and show them how we can play.”

“We were just so much more aggressive tonight,” echoed Swartz.

“There was a lot of motivation for us in this game,” Landis said. “They really stepped up to the plate, and I’m really happy with my guys.”